IntroductionEmployee performance measurement is a widely used tool in management practice, which has been the subject of numerous studies published in the organizational behavior literature (Houldsworth, Jirasinghe and Hay Group, 2006). Performance has been defined as an objective phenomenon, consisting of a set of attributes of a program and its measurable impact on society (Thomas, 2006), but what truly defines performance remains a controversial and evolving concept. However, what is clear is that performance is a social construct, i.e. without society it would not exist. Performance measurement is the process that an organization uses to monitor important aspects of its programs and systems, including the operational processes necessary to collect the data needed for measures or indicators (Thomas, 2006). To evaluate performance, measures are developed to evaluate the extent to which performance goals and objectives are achieved. Meaningful performance measurement requires a baseline to which the measure can be compared (Henri, 2006). It is important to emphasize that the performance captured by a particular set of measures will always be partial and contextual, and therefore essentially subjective in nature (Behn, 2003). Employees need to know what they need to do to do their jobs successfully. Employee performance management is a process that involves planning work and setting expectations, continuously monitoring performance, developing performance capability, periodically measuring performance standards, and rewarding good performance (Houldsworth, Jirasinghe and Hay Group, 2006). Ideally, employee performance standards should be measurable, understandable, verifiable, fair and achievable. Employee engagement is key to having time to supervise, with time best used for something else. Furthermore, it is an expensive process and these costs could be better directed towards other methods of increasing business performance. The process itself is convoluted, bureaucratic and overly complicated, being difficult to understand and manage for both the employee and the supervisor in charge of the evaluation. The mechanistic basis of valuation discourages entrepreneurial intuition and is considered monotonous since the same process occurs every year and nothing changes. It is important to emphasize that measuring employee performance is a subjective process. Management implications of performance measurement Implications for management processes and practices Broader societal and social implications Although performance measures shape behavior, they can shape behavior in both desirable and undesirable ways. Conclusion